Concrete form panel



Dem Z, 194& I A JENNINGS r 2,336,253;

Filed. May 18%, 1942 2-. Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Dec. 7, 1943; JENNINGS 2,336,253

CONCRETE FORM PANEL Filed May 18, 1942 I 2 Sheets-She et 2 I N yillllllfimlfllllls NH- 14 16 32 4b 215" 222 26 25 INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 7, 1943 UNITED STATES FFlQE CGNCRETE FORM PANEL WilliamAllen Jennings, Des Moines, Iowa Application May 18, 1942, Serial No.443,450

6 Claims. (Cl. 25-131) My invention relates to panels of the type whichare used in multiple arrangement as forms for the construction ofconcrete Walls, etc. In this work it is convenient to use panels havingmarginal flanges with standardized punchings, so that adjacent panelscan be quickly connected and aligned by simple clamps, such as thoseshown in my Patent No. 2,102,717. Form panels on opposite sides of thewall are joined by spreader ties which maintain the correct spacing togive the desired Wall thickness.

When the semi-fluid concrete is placed in the forms, it exerts anoutward horizontal pressure on the form panels, and under conditionssometimes encountered the resulting forces may be very great. It will beunderstood that these forces must ultimately be transmitted to thespreader ties, which are customarily located at the corners of the formpanels.

.Practical form systems employ panels of various sizes and shapes, asmay be necessary to conform to the dimensions of the structure beingerected. Each panel, however, must have edge flanges for aligning andfastening purposes, as well as for more or less load carrying capacity,particularly in the smaller sizes. All of these flanges must be of thesame size, so that the clamps or other aligning and fastening devicescan be used interchangeably with all combinations ofvarious sizes ofpanels.

When the flanges are relied upon for structural strength, 'i. e., toresist the forces of the concrete tending to buckle the panels, then aproblem arises in selecting a design or weight of flange which will besuitable on all the various sizes of panels. If the flange issufiiciently heavy and rugged to withstand the forces exerted on thelargest size panels, then it will be unnecessarily large in the smallpanels, representing a Waste of metalfiand undesirable Weight inhandling.

My invention is particularly applicable to form panels of the largersizes, and involves a constructionsuch that the forces exerted normal tothe'panel throughout its area will be transmitted as "directly aspossible to the corners of the panel, without the necessity for heavy orrigid-marginal flanges. For reasons which will be pointed out, it isdesirable to have a certain degree of flexibility in the side flanges,and if they are made lightwenough to have such flexibility, they wouldnot have suflicient strength in themselves to carry the load imposed onthe larger panels in a form system. Furthermore, my invention makespossible the uniform use, on various size panels, of a flange which willnot be excessively heavy on small panels.

It is an object of my invention to provide a form panel meeting therequirements indicated, and of simple, durable and inexpensiveconstruction.

A form panel embodying the novel and useful features of my invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aperspective View showing several panels, and indicating the manner inwhich adjacent panels are fastened together, as well as the means bywhich the panels on opposite sides of the Wall are spaced apart;

Figure 2 is an elevational View of a single panel;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a sectional View taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

The form panel is made up from a heavy sheet metal plate with edgesturned up to form flanges. This part may be referred to as the pan, andI have designated the pan generally by the numeral Ill. The fiat faceportion of the pan is designated as l2, and the flanges are indicated'atM. At the corners or" the pan, where the'flanges meet, I provide cornerfittings it and lock plates l8 for a purpose which will be laterdescribed.

For reenforcement on the flange side of the pan, I provide first a gridorgrill structure indicatedgenerally as 2%. In the form shown, itconsists oflongitudinal members 22 and 2d, a central cross member 26,intermediate cross members 28,

and end members 39. The members referred to are preferably of channelsection, as indicated in Figures 3 and l, with the exception of thecentral cross member 26, the shape of which is seen' in Figure 4. l

:The panel itself being rectangular in outline, the central grid Ell ismost conveniently made rectangular also, and in accordance with theobjects of my invention it is made both shorter and narrower than thepan ID.

The central grid is connected to the corners of the panel by diagonallyextending members 32.

In the design shown in the drawings, additional longitudinal members 36are provided, ex-

tending parallel to the members 22 and 24, and joined to the diagonalmembers 32. Members 36 are spaced approximately as far from the adjacentparallel flanges M as the members 30 are from the flanges parallel tothem. It will be seen, therefore, that a uniformly distributed system ofreenforcing members is provided, and all the forces which aretransmitted through the pan face l2 to the reenforcement grid areultimately transmitted by the diagonal members 32 to the corner fittings[6. The spacing of the various members in the grid is such that there isno unsupported area of the pan face of greater width than approximatelyone-sixth the size of the form panel. The panel shown is a square one,commercially made in a thirty-inch size, so

that th spacing referred to is about five inches.

Obviously, the panels can be made in various sizes and shapes, and thedimensions are given only as illustrative of a commercially practicalform, and not as a limitation of my invention.

Figure 1 shows how these panels are assembled. Clamps 38 are used toembrace adjacent flanges, thus holding the panels together. The cornerfittings 16 are adapted to receive locking pins 40, which projectthrough adjacent flanges to aline the panels, so that the flat faceportions i2 all lie in the same plane. The locking pin extends through ahole in the end of a spreader tie 52, and the spreader tie thus servesto space the form panels on the opposite sides of the wall before theconcrete is poured, and also as a stay to resist the outward horizontalforces exerted on the form when the semi-fluid concrete mass is placed.

- The clamps 38 are placed close to the corner fittings, so that wherethe corners of several panels come together they are tightly fastened ina substantially unitary structure. When this is done, a single spreadertie attached to one of the corner fittings will often be enough for eachpanel intersection, serving to take the outward forces transmitted tothe corners of each of four panels. The

system of transmitting the forces to the corners of the panels thusmakes for convenience and economy in assembling forms of this type.

As a result of much experience in commercial use of form panels madefrom sheet steel, I have found it distinctly advantageous to use metallight enough so that the marginal flanges can have some flexibility. Thereason for this is that the flanges can be bent inwardlysomewhat-inmanufacture, except at the corners. Then when the panels areassembled by clamps 33, the application of the clamps springs theadjacent flanges toward each other, and gives rise to a strong tension,holding the panels together-at the heels of the flanges, i. e., adjacentthe pan face i2, thus minimizing the creation of fins or ribs in theconcrete surface. The details of this ar rangement are set out in mypending application, Serial No. 367,082.

When flanges of the necessary degree of flexibility are used, and whenthey are perforated as shown in the drawings, they cannot be-depended onto transmit to the spreader tie points the forces which are encounteredin the case of thelarger plates. This may be true even though the flangeis such'as to be of ample strength and of economical design for-smallpanel units. Hence, the advantages, for the largernnits, of myconstruction with a central grid and diagonal members extending to thecorner fittings, so that very little load is carried by the marginalflanges themselves. The panel size is in no way limited by the flangedesign.

Attention is also directed to the fact that there are no reinforcingmembers intersecting or in contact with the flanges, so that theirflexible character for clamping purposes is not interfered with.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of thevarious elements of my structure without departing from the real spiritand purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by myclaims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalentswhich may reasonably be included within their scope.

I claim:

1.' A concrete form panel consisting of a rectangular sheet metal panwith marginal flanges, a rectangular central grid of reenforcingmembers, said grid being shorter and narrower than said form panel,diagonal load transmitting members extending from the corners of saidgrid to the corners of said panel, and means at the corners of saidpanel adapted to connect with tie members.

2. A form panel structure comprising a metal plate with marginalflanges, a grid of reenforcing members in contact with and centrallylocated on said plate, load carrying members reaching diagonally from,said grid to the corners of said plate, and spreader tie fittings at thecorners of said plate.

3. A form panel including a flat sheet metal base, flexible flanges onthe margins thereof, corner fittings adapted to receive liner pins andspreader ties, a central grid comprising longitudinally extendingmembers and a plurality of cross members extending therebetween, saidgrid being shorter and narrower than said form panel, and load carryingmembers extending from said grid to said corner fittings.

4. In reenforcing means for a sheet metal concrete form panel, a gridlocated centrally on said panel and having parallel longitudinalmembers, end members connecting the; ends of said longitudinalmembers,and extensionsfrom said end members to the corners of said panel, andfittings in the corners of said panel, adapted to receive spreader ties.V V p v 5. Reenforcing means for a concrete form panel including a pairof parallel longitudinal members, end,members connecting the endsthereof to form a rectangle shorter andfnarrower than the form panel,members extending diagonally from the corners of said rectangle tospreader tie fittings at the corners of said panel, and additionallongitudinal members, extending between said diagonal members, parallelto said first mentioned longitudinal members. f 1 6. A form panelincluding a flat'sh'eet metal base, flexible flanges on the marginsthereof, fittings in the corners thereof adapted to receive spreader tiemeans, parallel longitudinal members symmetrically located on said base,a plu-' rality of cross members extending transversely between saidlongitudinal members, diagonal members extending between the ends ofsaid Iongitudinal members and said corner fittings, and auxiliarylongitudinal members parallel to said first-mentioned longitudinalmembers, and joined to said diagonal members intermediate the endsthereof.-

WILLIAM ALLEN JENNINGSSU

